Acknowledgments Introduction: Neuropsychopharmacology as Spiritual Technology 1. Psychedelic Revival 2. Swiss Psilocybin and US Dollars 3. The Varieties of Psychedelic Lab Experience 4. Enacting Experimental Psychoses 5. Between Animality and Divinity 6. Mystic Materialism Conclusion: Fieldwork in Perennial Philosophy Notes Bibliography Index
T.S. Eliot prefaces “Burnt Norton”, the first of his Four Quartets, with two quotations from the Greek philosopher, Heraclitus. By means of these epigrams, Eliot points us to the Heraclitean opposition and paradoxical interdependence between logos and flux as a paradigm in the poem, a paradigm that he uses for an investigation and articulation of a number of philosophical contemplations. In...
A large body of historical evidence describes the use of hallucinogenic compounds, such as psilocybin mushrooms, for religious purposes. But few scientific studies have attempted to measure or characterize hallucinogen‐occasioned spiritual experiences. The present study examined the factor structure of the Mystical Experience Questionnaire (MEQ), a self‐report measure that has been used to...
Psychedelic drugs have long been known to be capable of inducing mystical or transcendental experiences. However, given the common "recreational" nature of much present-day psychedelic use, with typical doses tending to be lower than those commonly taken in the 1960s, the extent to which illicit use of psychedelics today is associated with mystical experiences is not known. Furthermore the mild...
"Mysticism" is a phenomenon which many sinologists have attributed to Zhuongzi. The problem is that they make this attribution in passing and without much reference to literature on the subject of mysticism itself. By analysing three specific examples of mystical experience in Zhuongzi and explicating them in terms of literature on mysticism, I provide a more explicit hermeneutic for the...
The "neurotheology" developed by d'Aquili and Newberg is critiqued, beginning with its modular conception of mental process and its understanding of the contribution of language, deafferentation, and autonomic and limbic arousal in mystical experience.Neurotheology makes claims about ultimate reality and the neuropsychological means of its realization.A spatial perception that conveys the sense...
Even if ingesting the hallucinogen psilocybin can increase positive feelings of bliss or oneness with the universe, it is questionable whether such feelings represent authentic mystical experience or spiritual growth.
This article employs a qualitative case study approach to describe the views and perspectives of a folk healer (White Bear) regarding spiritual healing. White Bear argues for a mobile, in-the-moment form of diagnosis and a “pause,” in which the mind ceases to tyrannize and the healer is no longer absorbed in his or her emotions. He contends that a healer can benefit from aligning with spirits...
Pike’s phenomenology of mystical experiences articulates sharply where theological content may enter the structure of Christian mystics’ experiences (as characterized in their own words). Here we look to Buddhist (and other) accounts of “pure” or “nibbanic” consciousness attained in experiences of deep meditation. A contemporary “modal” model of inner awareness is considered whereby a form of...
In Mexican history there are two great poets: Sor Juana and Maria Sabina. We could called Sor Juana: Juana Sabina, the Wise. Although she never practiced medicine, she did know the magic of Indian herbs and felt that his verses had been "bewitched" by them. His "letters" have been bewitched by the Indians, his singing is imbued with a spell "poured" on it, like a concoction of indigenous...